My Dad has a black 72 big block. I fell in love with it years ago and have been looking for a C10 of my own since the start of 2013. I had my heart set on a 2 tone one, ideally red and white, but I wasn't able to track one down in the condition and price range I wanted. If finally found this one in Palm Springs, CA.

I just got back Sunday after driving 2,100mi back to Houston, TX. The plan was to avoid I10 which is boring and full of big rigs. My fellow Canadian and friend who lives in my Houston community with me shared the driving, and we saw a lot of the US including 3 boarder guard stations where they were all friendly and asked more questions about the truck then us.

Average fuel economy driving 65-75mph: 12.1mpg. Best tank was 13.5mpg. Worst was 10.1mpg.
Top speed: 97mph (gps) for a few seconds.

The truck:

1972 Super Cheyenne Fleetside
Motor: Stock 350 with edelbrock 600 4 barrel carb.
AC: Thank God, with a newer compressor.
Miles: 79,000miles now
Color: Dark olive green. Stock color.
Previous owners: 1. The owner passed and his daughter sold the truck to me through a classic car dealer in LA. There is zero documentation which I'm not thrilled with but I will be calling the daughter every 6 months to see if she's come across it.
Plans: Fix the horn (not working), put lots of miles on enjoying it. Maybe better headlights. A 5.3L vortec is a possabilty later, but I'm enjoying my first carb'ed vehicle for now. The 12mpg drive home is a distant memory already.
Note: This is my first non manual vehicle.

The planned route:

The actual route after wandering around:

Pic
Shuttle meeting us at the airport in California to head to the dealership
king it up

Driving at dawn

Happy mofo

Making miles

I've been *****ing about how ugly Houston is (damn it is), but west Texas is a lot nicer. This is Big Bend National Park.

We hugged the TX/Mexican boarder for hundreds of miles. Texas on or left, Mexico on our right, running into a ton of boarder guards/trucks/ATVs. This is looking back (Mexico on the left of this photo).

Somewhere in Arizona

One the way into Big Bend Park, TX

The Rio Grand river separating Mexico and the US.

Old ass diner. We had lunch there. I was told these buildings were sold as kits for a 'dinner in a box' promo. There were a ton of them across the US way back when, apparently.

Night driving

My co-pilot

Texas park guide showing us some road options within Big Bend Park

It rained a lot actually.

Retired aircraft carrier in Corpus Christi, TX. I've been on it before and it is freaking massive

Finally home on Sunday. 3lbs of dead bugs on the truck. Chevy Cruize is tucked in begin the truck.

Nice truck. ..with tilt and a tach on top of itPosted via Mobile Device

Thanks, today I noticed the end of the indicator/signal lever has a button with cruise marked on it.....it doesn't seem to work but I'm surprised to think cruise was even around back then. Maybe a retrofit was made that I'll need to get working again.

Unfortunately, it didn't dry evenly. The good news is I can just pull it off without harm. 3M will be getting an email asking how to avoid this in my second attempt. I suspect they'll say "don't put it on so heavy".

What a beautiful truck brother!! That is a great way to start out with your new truck. I hope to see more pics on here. Are you gonna leave it stock or ya gonna slam it or other plans?????

I'm about to install a 4/6" drop. I was considering the American racing saltflats in 20's but I'll stick with the stock rollers for now since I like 'em any way. Some headers, 2.5" exhaust, mufflers and turndowns behind the rear axel are my next plans. Nothing too crazy. I use this to shuttle my mtn bike to the trail head and drive to work sometimes so it's not a show queen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by knomadd

Welcome from
Rosenberg! That's a beautiful truck you've got. I bet you enjoyed the trip back from Cali! I moved here from Oregon back in 2007 and took a couple extra days on my way down here to enjoy the country. That was an awesome trip. I bet you had more fun than I did.

Thanks for the welcome, local.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HSRACER

Very nice truck and a great experience for you and your friend. If you would like a shorter road trip experience, drive her over to Katy TX and have a beverage at my house. I have a couple of hotrods and would like to meet people that share the same passion for trucks!

Thanks for the generous invitation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fastnotch89

Super nice truck...and I like the jet stream blue c6

Yea, that's my road course/drag race/piss the neighbors off loud Z06. 11.39 at 124 so far with CAI and catback. Love these cars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Cool story and great truck! Did you ever have to use that gas can in the bed?

No, fortunately. But, it did scuff the bed a little over the length of the trip. Stupid me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sammy

Pretty gutsy buying long distance and driving that type of distance on word of mouth as dependable. Glad it worked out for you and didn't leave you with a horror story to tell us. No doubt my luck would have left me stranded 30 miles from civilization and a huge tow or repair in a not so friendly to strangers part of town.
As far as the spray film you tried..I think 3M makes a protective tape they use on the newer vehicles on their rocker panels n lower doors. Should be available at most of your auto paint retailers. Could be an alternative solution.

The risk was part of the fun. I signed up for AMA just before the trip. There were plenty of parts of the drive we had no cell reception, but there were usually boarder patrol guards around in those areas. I'd love to do a similar trip again.
Thanks for the tip about the 3M alternative.

Wow very nice truck! thought I would look you up since I saw all your pictures from the the C10 meet up hopefully will meet you at the next meet up!

Thanks! For sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike C

Great adventure! That's how to bond with a new truck. Great truck too for that matter.

Will look awesome dropped. But please, no 20's.... Get some 17's or 18's with some sidewall. The truck and I thank you!

Look forward to more pics of this truck in the future.

Thanks. I'm rocking the stock rallys for now. If I change rims, they'll be 18's with a tall sidewall. I've lowered it now. Photos below.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cigar-

I know it's a year and a half down the road but....

....NICE truck!! I know what it's like on that road and the drive can be great....or boring. Either way you must have fun since you were driving your new truck, which is a beauty. I hope you're enjoying it often.

Thanks. I am having a lot of fun adding my own small touches (seat cover, lowering) and basically driving it as much as I can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by no1udknow

What a great way to enjoy your truck. I love seeing people drive their trucks rather than treating them like trailer queens. Kudos, and beautiful truck.

Thanks. I don't mind using it as a truck where I can (without scratching the paint), carrying my mtn bike, a home depot run, etc. Way more fun to drive then just look at.

Update: I moved back home to Canada (Calgary) from Houston, after 4 awesome years in the USA.

My Canadian buddy also living in Houston (ex coworker) was also planning to move back to Canada, so we each rented the biggest UHaul trucks we could, sold each of our houses, and towed 2 of my cars (C10, Z06) up to Canada. We each flew down a friend to co-drive. Our call signs were Idaho (my buddy) and my UHaul was Sea-Cow because it was slow and felt overloaded.

It was quite a trip.

We were all ready, up bright and early to get some miles under out belt. However, our UHaul would not start. 6 hours later, it was running after a mechanic replaced the starter on the engine, and a flat tire. Finally hitting the road with our 2 UHauls, we made it 200 miles before the transmission on our 2nd Uhaul overheated and stopped working. 2 hours later, a mechanic showed up, did not know what the problem was but the transmission had cooled down and we were able to limp both trucks to a town with a hotel.

Making preparations. Loading up the vette. I actually like these UHaul trailers. Built some wooden risers to let the bumper clear the front of the trailer.

The morning we were trying to leave. Dead starter right as we were about the start the trip.

Discovering it was not a dead battery.

A couple hrs, later waiting for a mechanic to fix the trans.

There was not enough room in the UHaul.

After letting the trans cool and limping to a town. Waiting for it to cool again before driving 1/2 mile to a hotel.

The next morning we got up, the air was cool and we managed 150 miles before the transmission in the 2nd truck overheated and quit again. Now we were stuck in a little town called Quanah, TX feeling the 100F heat. Uhaul agree to send another mechanic (2hrs away).

This is us waiting for the UHaul mechanic in Quanah. It was hot.

Not surprisingly, this new mechanic also couldn't find a solution. At this point, we've been fighting with UHaul to send us a replacement truck. They finally agreed, and said they'd have one to us the next day, to Quanah. So, we had a second night to spend there, waiting. So, we first tried turning the key on the trip at 6am the day prior. So far, we'd only knocked off 350 miles into our 2,300 mile trip. We were still in Texas haha.

The next morning, we decided to unload all the contents from the broken UHaul ourselves, into our hotel parking lot. This way, when the replacement truck arrived, we could load it and get on our way.

Little did we know, some of the 2,600 total population of Quanah thought we were having a yard sale, so they pulled in and starting looking through my buddy's items and asking about prices. There were at least 4 trucks that stopped in this way while we were waiting for the new UHaul to show up.

We made our own fun. My co-driver shown.

The new UHaul showed up, we got it loaded and the rest of the trip was super smooth.

AT THE CANADA BOARDER!!

In Canada

Celebration in Canada.

A map of our memories from the trip

I Racewrapped both cars for the trip. Still, a lot of dust got in, although the paint is great.

Cleaned up

A photo with mine + my Dad's 71 big block.

And that's my trip home! I'm living in a condo in Calgary, downtown so the truck is in a heated parking garage downstairs (with a car wash!). It'll be hibernating for the winter.